Deborah Gorman-Smith will serve as the interim Dean of the School of Social Service Administration, effective July 1, 2017. Gorman-Smith, who joined the faculty in 2012, is the Emily Klein Gidwitz Professor and Deputy Dean for Research & Faculty Development. She is also the Principal Investigator and Director of the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention, one of six national Academic Centers of Excellence funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her research focuses on advancing knowledge about development, risk, and prevention of aggression and violence, with specific focus on minority youth living in poor urban settings. Gorman-Smith has published extensively in areas related to youth violence, including the relationship between community characteristics, family functioning, and aggression and violence, including partner violence and the impact of family-focused preventive interventions.

Gorman-Smith succeeds Neil Guterman, the Mose and Sylvia Firestone Professor and Dean of UChicago’s School of Social Service Administration, who will begin his new role as Dean of the New York University Silver School of Social Work starting September 1, 2017.